Early in his acting career, Arnold Schwarzenegger established a reputation for being both ambitious and easy to get along with. But he once famously clashed with James Cameron on the set of The Terminator about what would become the most famous line in a groundbreaking movie.
Arnold suggested his killer android character would say “I will be back,” arguing that a machine would not use a contraction. Cameron, who was renowned for his meticulousness, held his ground, finally demanding that Arnold stick to the script. As Arnold recalled, Cameron told him, “I don’t correct your acting, so don’t correct my writing.” Arnold did as he was told, and in the above video, he confesses that Cameron made the right call.
Kudos to Arnold for admitting his mistake.
But the real point is how you can be technically right but artistically wrong. Submissions editors see manuscripts all the time that click on all the technical points, such as tension, characterization, and a good premise, but fail to engage the reader.
The showdown between Arnold and Cameron illustrates that sometimes the logical way isn’t always best. A story develops its own internal logic and dynamic, and it takes years of practice to recognize that fact. James Cameron knew what he was doing.
Another way to put it is that you have to master the rules before you’re good enough to break them. Then you can wield them flexibly and effectively.
Hi Mike, love this! I’ve read many books that are technically good, but stiff–in fact I had to pass up one for my book club because of this issue (the author was pretty mad at me!). My husband’s cousin is a film photographer and has worked with James Cameron on several films, including Titanic, and he said the same thing to me–that Jim is meticulous and knows what he wants and that you learn so much from working with a person like that. Although Cameron seems far more American in temperament than Canadian!
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Cameron is a phenomenal talent. I can watch his films over and over and see something new and exciting every time.
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Why is it always assumed that artificial beings do not use contractions? I would think that they would prefer them since it is much more efficient to use one word instead of two.
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Leon,
That’s a valid point. I believe the assumption is that because contractions are used in everyday speech, it sounds more formal to avoid them.
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Maybe if we make the robots sound sophisticated, they will not rise up against us…
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Good point!
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very interesting Mike…
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Awesome story. Schwarzenegger will always be Conan for me. That was the film of my childhood (along with The Princess Bride and Goonies). Similar to your post, I read an interesting bit about logical versus emotional framing in Daniel Kahneman’s book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” He framed a scenario as looking at these two outcomes of a soccer game: Italy won; France lost. They are logically the same outcome, but they clearly indicate different meanings and incite different feelings. In that manner, “I will be back” probably wouldn’t have had the same connotation as “I’ll be back.” The suave of the Terminator’s character (no BS, black leather, shotgun) warrants something that’s clear and concise.
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Joshua,
What’s great about that line is that it’s both threatening and comical — yeah, he came back, all right.
And the Boom! Boom! Boom! delivery underscored the killer android’s power and relentlessness.
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Great post. I read a short story yesterday written in the most visual and exquisite prose. And yet when I finished reading it, I was underwhelmed. Great style but not a whole lot of substance.
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Gauri,
As they say, writing is hard.
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I love this, Mike. In many professions those who have mastered their work are the ones who relax and take risks.
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Jennie,
So true. They have nothing to prove, and have mastered both their craft and their fears.
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Well said!
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…and maybe a different point… beware of dealing with native German speakers when dealing with procedure….
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Hi Mike! I like the way you analyzed and presented Arnold’s trials that led to his success. 💓🍂🍮🍂🍮
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